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Limited supply of high-yielding and disease-free banana planting materials of three banana cultivars hinders growers to use tissue-cultured materials and to operate diversified farms.

There were banana growers who chose to utilize planting materials from their farms or those from their neighborsor relatives, some of which are infected by pests and diseases, instead of shouldering the higher cost of tissue-culture planting materials. Also, despite better yields realized in diversified banana cultivar farming.

High incidence of pests and diseases reduces banana yield in Oriental Mindoro. Through the adoption of site-specific Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and dissemination of information on banana pests and diseases and their control, the effects of these infestations would be minimized.chances of pathogen entering the rhizomes, roots and stem of banana plant.

The vast majority of the bananas currently grown and consumed were not conventionally bred but are selections made over probably thousands of years from naturally occurring hybrids. Cultivated bananas are very nearly sterile and as a consequence are not propagated from seed but rather through vegetative propagation, primarily suckers as well as more recently micropropagated or tissue cultured bananas. These factors, very old selections, near sterility and vegetative propagation, mean that these bananas have not been genetically improved either for resistance or improved quality and are becoming increasing in affected by serious pests and diseases.